Multiple-team hitch



E. A. WHITE.

MULTIPLE TEAM HITCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. a. 1919.

1,333,234. I Patented Mar. 9,1920.

TENT OFFICE.

EARL A. WHITE, OF URBANA, ILLINOIS.

MULTIPLE-TEAM HITCH.

Application filed February 3, 1919. Serial No..274,636.

To all whom it may concern: 7 7 Be it known that I, EARL A. WHITE, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Urbana, in the county of Champaign and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Multiple-Team 7 Hitches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to pro-.

vide apparatus for hitching a plurality of teams in tandem arrangement, and at the same time balancing the pull of each team against that of'all the others, so that all will take their proportionate shares of the load.

The invention is also concerned with means for insuring substantially' equal working conditions for all the teams, by controlling indicated by the claims.

v the angle of the tra'ceswith the ground. It

consists in the various features and elements andtheir combination as hereinafter described and shown in the drawings and In the drawings: Figure 1 is a dlagrammatic side elevation of a multiple team hitch embodying this invention as arranged for five teams intandem.

r and cable together with an equal1zer=or .Fig. 0 is a diagram indicating the tend- 'ency of a tandem hitch to pullthe traces away from the correct working angle.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showingthe effect of weights for holding'the traces at'correct working angle. v

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of one of the draft rods with associated pulleys doubletree connected therewith for attachment of one of the teams.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 5. t

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a doubletree or equalizer showin weights thereto to Fi Sis adetail vertical section of a doub etree with the cable and traces attached thereto, :showing another method of applying weights for controlling the an- Igle of the traces.

is diagrammatically shown in Figs. 1' and '2 as arranged for five teams of horses; but

Specification of Letters Patent.

a method of applying r-controlling the angle of the traces.

: Patented exactly the same principles may be applied and similar apparatus may be provided for hitching up either a smaller or larger num- 1 her of teams 1n tandem. The pull of the horses is transmitted.preferably through ,a series of steel rods, 10, 20, .30. and 40, and finally through an eye or clevis, 50," or other suitable connector attached to :the vehicle .or implement .to be drawn; Each team of horses is attached to the draftappa'ratus by means of a doubletree, or, if more than two horses constitute a team, any other equivalent equalizer may be used, and these equalizers are indicated as to position in Figs. 1 and 2 at 11, 21, 31, 41' and 51 respectivel-y. For purposes of further description 'a typical group of the apparatus has been shown iii-Figs. 5 and 6, these parts including the draft rod, 40, the equalizer or doubletree, 51, and alcable and pulleys asv sociated therewith. Thepull of the horses on the equalizer, 51, is transmitted through rope or cable, 52, leading ofl from the pulley,53, which is journaled in a block or carrier, 54, to which the clevis, 50, is, connected. From the pulley, 53, the cableruns forward over a'pulley, 55, in a block, 56,

. v I back to-pulley. 57 of the'bl0ck, 54, and for Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1.

ward again over pulley, 58, from which the end of the cable leads off for attach.

at '59; in the arrangement diagrammed in Figs. 1 and 2,. the total pull of the five teams of horses upon the clevis 50 is transmitted through five strands of the cable, 52, and in accordance with the .well

understood rule governing this form of tackle, one-fifth o'fthe pull is transmitted through each of: these strands; thusv it is evident that the team at the equalizer, 51, will take one-fifth of the load, which is its proportionateshare as among the teams.

Byreference to Figs. 1 and, 2, it willbe seen that each succeeding set of pulleys ahead of those detailed in Figs. 5 and 6 has one less strand of the cable transmitting the load; whereby each team. is balanced against all the teams ahead of it and the aggregate pull of such team andithose ahead of it is draftrod. to the next set of pulleys, to be p I balanced against the following team. Thus, An apparatus embodying this invention ahead of. the draft rod, 20, there'are only two teams, and the load is divided equally 23, and cable, 22, passing around it, with one end attached to the doubletree, 21, and the other end attached. through the draft rod, 10, to the doubletree, 11, of the leading team. As soon as three or more teams are hitched 'in tandem,'each additional pulley set will comprise two blocks of pulleys with one end of the cable always leading off'forwardly from the rear block for attachment to a doubletree or equalizer and with theother end of the cable leading off rearwardly from the forward block of pulleys or forwardly from the rear block of pulleys, this relation alternating as between adjacent pulley sets in the total series, and depending of course upon the number of strands of cable required for properly transmitting; and bal ancing the load at the different points.

Since the play of the cables about their pulleys willpermit each team to move backward or forward more or less with respect to the adjacent draft rod, it is desirable to keepv that movement within proper limits and this may be done by providing each of the rods with a ring or eye, 60, attached to the rod as in Figs. 5 and 6, and securing thereto a buck strap, 61, which is connected to the bridle of each horse by another strap in the nature of a check rein not shown. Thus, if the team starts to advance too far ahead with respect to the draft rod, thepull on this buck strap, 61, will tend to checkv any further advance, thus-incidentally prevent ing the two pulley blocks from being drawn together too closely into conflicting relation. ,Each end of the draft rod, 40, is formed with a hook or, preferably, a closed eye, 62, and the other draft rods may be exactly similar in construction to permit connection with the pulley blocks. Any sultable coupling means may be employed, the drawings showing aswivel connector, 63, disengageably and pivotally attached to the pulley block, "56, by a, coupling pin, 64:, held in place by a cotter pin, 65. A similar coupliruggpin, 66, secures the clevis, 50, to the pulley block, 54:, or may be used to'attach placing them withthe clevis, 50, connected to the rearmost block remaining. This does not involve unthreadingany of the cables from their pulleys, but merely disconnecting each set of pulleysas a unit, and with it one of the draft rods.

On farm vehicles and agricultural implements'generally the equalizer or doubletree is mounted fairly close to the ground and held in this position by the weight of the vehicle; ordinary draft harness is therefore designed to connect the swingletrees of the equalizer in such position with the collars of the horses at an angle at which the horses can work efl'ectively. However, upon harnessing several teams in tandem and thus greatly elongating the line of draft, there is a tendency for the doubletrees of the forward teams to rise from the ground so much as to seriously. change the angle of the traces with respect to the collars, as indicated in the diagram of Fig. 3. ihis changes the direction of pull of the traces with respect to the. collar,tending to choke the horse and sometimev causingan upward pull upon the belly-band which forces the horse to work under distress and not efficiently.

A feature of the present tandem hitch is therefore some means for holding the equalizers of the several teams at approximately equal distances fromthe ground, so that the angle of trace shall be the same for each team of the series and shall bean eflicient angle. This may be done as suggested in Fig. at by a weight the connection between the doubletree and the cable leading to each set of pulleys, such weight being indicated at 67. An enlarged detail View of the. same arrangement in Fig. 8. suggests further that'each weight may be made up of several units, so as to be varied if occasion requires. In Figs. 3 and at the collars are indicated at 68 and the traces at 69.

Fig. 7 shows a slightly difierent arrangement of the weights, in which, in the form of heavy metal disks, 70, they are secured on top of the equalizer or doubletree at its pivotal points merely because the pivots at these points may also be utilized as the securing means. Obviously such weighting may be confined either to the midpoint of the doubletree or to its ends, or the weights may be applied at all three" positions as shown in Fig. 7. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate a method of applying the weight to the rear pulley blockof the set, at 71, these weights also being made up of several units so as to be variable; obviously this arrangement would permit straightening out the line of draft through the trace .and the cable leading to the rear pulley by holding each set of pulleys close to theground, resulting in uniformity of the angle of trace, and by employing slightly shorter traces than would be used with the other arrangements. shown, the actual angle between the traces and the collars might be made substantially the same as in those cases and equally effective.

I claim 1. In a' draft linkage for hitching a plurality of teams in tandem, draft members for transmitting the combined pull of the teams and equalizing devices for-balancing the teams against each other arranged at longitudinally separated points in the linkage and providedwith connections for attaching the respective teamsat correspond: ingly separated points, together with supplemental weights applied to the linkage adjacent the several points ofattachment of the teams for holding such points at approximately equal distances from the ground.

2. In a draft linkage as set out in claim 1,

team. I I p r 4, In a draft linkage as set out in claim 1, the equalizing devices comprising pulley blocks connected adjacent the respective double-trees and the supplemental Weights being in the form of apertured disks or plates secured to the sides of. the pulley blocks.

In testimony whereof, I'have hereunto set my hand at Urbana, Illinois, this 24 day of January, 1919. V 7 EARL A. WHITE.

dcuble-tree or equivalent' equalizer of each- 

